Ever wonder why a steak at one restaurant tastes differently than the steak at another restaurant? Or why mashed potatoes don't taste the same as baked potatoes? They're both potatoes. There is more to taste than most people know, and that's why a good chef is worth his or her weight in gold. Expert chefs can manipulate taste and flavor to achieve desired results, but what is taste exactly?

Taste is a physiological sensation that we detect in the presence of foreign substances in the mouth. Flavor, on the other hand, is the combination of taste, temperature, texture and aroma caused by the presence of a foreign substance in the mouth. Tastes combine and layer, which provide depth to the food that we eat.

Several factors can impact the taste of food; the sense of smell is the greatest contributor to taste. That's why food tastes subdued when you have a cold. Without the sense of smell, the taste of many food items would be indistinguishable from one another.

"The sense of smell is the primary determinant of a food flavor," says Peg Checci, chef and professor at the New England Culinary Institute. "We use the sense of smell to identify what we're eating and even how we feel about what we're eating. If someone were blindfolded and pinched their nose shut, they probably wouldn't be able to taste the difference between an onion and a green apple. That's how important our senses are to our interpretation of taste and flavor."

Taste Is Delivered in Layers Back to top

Taste isn't a single sensation; it's delivered in layers. As you chew, you'll begin to taste each element of flavor. The sharpest flavors strike your palate first. For example, when eating a piece of turkey at Thanksgiving dinner, the first thing to hit your palate is a rich, meaty taste. As you begin to chew, the middle notes come into play, and you can identify a second wave of flavor that's subtler than the first. At this point, the feeling in your mouth is not only rich and meaty, but you also begin to identify turkey.

Another few chews and the low notes become known; you pick up the salt, pepper and garlic powder sprinkled on the turkey. Pausing before taking the next bite will allow you to notice the aftertaste, or the finish. The more we chew our food, the better we can sense how the different tastes interact and play off one another to create the flavor profile.

Different Factors Affect Flavor Perception Back to top

Temperature plays a large part in flavor perception. Foods served ice cold tend to dull the palate and need to be highly seasoned in order for us to interpret their flavors. Warm foods, on the other hand, tend to open up our palate and allow us to taste more subtle nuances.

Another factor that influences our taste is consistency.

"We have thousands of taste buds in our mouth. Foods that have a loose consistency will coat the palate more easily and hit more taste buds with each bite," says Checci. "On the flip side, looser foods will also dissipate more quickly. A soup made with water and chicken base might have decent flavor up front, but the flavor won't last for very long. Compare that to a soup made by simmering a whole chicken for several hours, then sweating the onions, celery and carrots gently to release the flavor and finishing with fresh herbs.

"Even though both soups are liquid-based, the stock has a different consistency than water. Stock is filled with gelatin, the same ingredient that gives Jell-O its spring. The mouth feel for a stock-based soup will be entirely different. Sweating the onions and carrots will add sweetness to the soup. The celery gives just a hint of bitterness. Seasoning with salt and pepper accents those flavors. This flavor will linger on the palate for much longer based on the physiological differences. In addition, there's a psychological component, in that homemade, stock-based soup is perceived differently by the human brain."

Contrasting Tastes Enhances Flavor Back to top

One of the interesting things chefs do is contrast foods and flavors to layer flavor. The idea is to balance the tastes and add just enough of each component to stimulate the entire palate. This step provides a much more satisfying dining experience.

"There should never be one dominant taste but rather a complexity to each bite," explains Checci. "As one element fades and passes, another should appear to take its place."

Some common contrasts include sweet versus sour or salty versus sweet. Chefs also layer textures by combining components of food in new and different ways. For example, a Vietnamese spring roll will have the crunchiness of the carrot and cabbage, the smoothness of the bean curd and possibly the egg, and the sponginess of the rice-paper wrapping. Dipping the spring roll into sweet and spicy sauce adds more elements. The most important thing to remember is to balance those elements and, when eating, to remember to notice these elements.

Additional Factors Affecting Taste Back to top

The appearance of food, including the color, influences our perception of the flavor. Americans love french fries. We eat more french fries per capita than any other country in the world. Sprinkle parsley on those same french fries, and many Americans won't even touch them. Similarly, a chicken noodle soup that is unnaturally yellow is less appealing than the same soup that has a rich golden brown color.

The moisture content in food is also very important when considering flavor. Dry food not only looks unappetizing, but it also tastes terrible. Moisture content is by definition determined by the cooking method as well as by the ingredients. For example, mashed potatoes should be creamy. The type of potato and the cooking method used determine how well they mash. If a chef uses the wrong type of potato or cooks them too long, he or she is left with a watered-down mess.

Grilled chicken is another great example—even boneless, skinless chicken breast should be moist. If a chef leaves the chicken on the grill too long, the proteins tighten and become too firm. The result? A dry, tasteless piece of cardboard.

Getting It Just Right Back to top

A lot goes into getting food to taste just right. It goes well beyond the flavor. Temperature, consistency, presence of contrasting tastes, color, moisture content and aroma play important roles.

Using the right cooking method—including conduction, convection and radiation—is also critical because cooking method and flavor go hand in hand. Chefs who understand how to manipulate the cooking methods to accentuate those qualities that they are looking for are ultimately going to be more accomplished in the kitchen."